So, I have 5 female rats living together in a cage, my first three i had alone an older girl who's 2 was the mother of the other two she lived with who are now 1. my other two (1 year old also) i adopted from the RSPCA and after the introductions have been living in my other three's cage successfully for 3 and a half weeks, no fights, they sleep, groom and play with each other fine. Just now i've let them all out of the cage for free range time, as i do every night around my room and noticed one of the newer ones has a wound like her skins been pulled off, but it's not bleeding more like the watery sore skin you get after a carpet burn or something. I'd have thought that after living together fine for that amount of time they would be okay, and since this happened in the larger space of my room rather than actually occurring in the cage itself i'm wondering whether maybe she got it caught on something sharp that i've been unable to rat proof myself, as i heard no squeaks or fights and they're all running around playing just fine now.
The one with the cut is indeed the smallest of all my rats, the cut is just behind her ear and about a cm long.
there are male rats living in my sisters room next door, whether that has anything to do with it i doubt, but thought it would be good for you to know incase this indeed has something to do with them being in heat or something.
I can tell that she's maybe struggling a bit more to fit in than her sister as she sometimes sleeps alone, whilst the other joins in my other three's ratty pile... it's funny to watch them cram themselves into a plastic sputnik.
They live in a Ferplast Furet XL single story unit, with a few plastic shelves to add more levels, tubes and hammocks and rope toys etc i've tried to leave no massive empty spaces in the middle.
Thanks! Alison x
The one with the cut is indeed the smallest of all my rats, the cut is just behind her ear and about a cm long.
there are male rats living in my sisters room next door, whether that has anything to do with it i doubt, but thought it would be good for you to know incase this indeed has something to do with them being in heat or something.
I can tell that she's maybe struggling a bit more to fit in than her sister as she sometimes sleeps alone, whilst the other joins in my other three's ratty pile... it's funny to watch them cram themselves into a plastic sputnik.
They live in a Ferplast Furet XL single story unit, with a few plastic shelves to add more levels, tubes and hammocks and rope toys etc i've tried to leave no massive empty spaces in the middle.
Thanks! Alison x
